


Jade

by pushingcrazies



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 02:43:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2756591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pushingcrazies/pseuds/pushingcrazies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were few things Wesley truly feared anymore.  But this… this was something new.  Something terrifying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jade

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce had encountered and fought an astounding number of creatures since coming to California.  He could face down vampires, demons, and rogue slayers alike while barely batting an eye (or at least not batting it much...maybe just a bit of a twitch).  He scoffed in the face of danger, laughed at the chance of death, and ate Cordelia’s cooking on a daily basis.  There were few things Wesley truly feared anymore.

But this… this was something new.  Something terrifying.  The creature had its gaze fixed right on him as though it could see straight into his soul.  Its eyes said it would tear Wesley limb from limb given half the chance, and Wesley was no fool.  He pressed himself flush against the wall to get as far away from the...thing as possible.  “Cordelia,” he hissed through clenched teeth, trying not to let the creature know he was calling for help.  “Angel?  Is anyone here?”

“Wesley?” Cordelia’s voice came from the next room, growing louder as she came nearer.  “What are you -”

“Stop,” Wesley cried, throwing out a hand to stave off Cordelia’s advance, but it was too late.  The creature rose to its feet, licking its lips.  Probably trying to decide which of them to devour first.  “We need a plan,” he whispered.  It couldn’t understand what he was saying...probably.  Hopefully.  “I will distract it and you run for help.  Between the two of us, we could -”

“Wes, what are you talking about?”  Cordelia demanded.  For the first time, Wesley realised she was carrying something rather pungent in a tin can in one of her hands.  The other was propped on her hip in her trademark ‘I work with the biggest morons on the planet’ pose.  “Are you terrorising Jade?”

“Jade?” Wesley repeated at normal volume.  “Who’s Jade?”

Cordelia gestured at the thing that was currently….well, it was currently waving its tail in what Wesley was sure was a very threatening manner.  “That’s Jade.  My new dog.”  She carried the tin over to a set of bowls next to her desk that Wesley hadn’t noticed before.  “Here you go, Jade.  Breakfast time, yum yum!”

“That’s not a dog,” Wesley squeaked as the foul creature trotted over to the bowl and began scarfing down huge mouthfuls of Alpo.  “That’s a terrifying...ferocious...hell-hound!”  A hell-hound that Cordy was absentmindedly rubbing between its very fiendish ears.

Rolling her eyes, Cordelia rose back into a standing position.  “She’s a doberman pinscher.”

“Exactly my point,” Wesley said.  “Do you know the percentage of fatal dog attacks that are caused by dobermans?  Or how often they turn on their owners?”

Cordelia jabbed a finger at him.  “Don’t you dare be breedist against Jade.  She’s trained to be a service dog.  She’s the gentlest, most wonderful dog I’ve ever met, and she’s mine now.”

Wesley relaxed, pulling away ever so slightly from the wall.  It was true that the dog’s ears and tail had not been docked in typical dobie fashion, giving her a much gentler air than most of her kind.  Still… “If she’s supposed to be a service dog, what is she doing with you?”

Cordelia blushed slightly, looking slightly chagrined.  “Well, she sort of...got kicked out.”

“Got kicked out?  Why?” Wesley said.

“She can sense things that...aren’t there.  Or, well, they are there but ordinary humans don’t know that.  So she would stare at things people couldn’t see and follow them with her eyes, and it freaked her owners out.  They placed her with three different people, and they all sent her back.”  Jade, finished with her meal, walked over to where Cordelia was standing and sat down at her feet, a loyal guardian.

“So how did you come to find out about her?”

“I was at the park the other day, sitting on a bench eating lunch, when this woman walked past with Jade.  Jade started pulling towards me as hard as she could, whining and growling.  I thought she was after my lunch.  The woman was bewildered, saying she never acted that way.  She had to drag poor Jade away.  Not a minute later, I had that vision about the woman on the bus.”

Wesley remembered that day, how Cordelia had come stumbling into the office, her skirt splotched irreparably with mustard and nearly fainting with pain.

Cordelia knelt beside Jade, petting her with long, reverent strokes.  “I tracked Jade down.  The woman had kept calling her name, so I started with shelters and foster programmes, anything public that might have a doberman by that name.  It was just by chance that I stumbled across the service dog programme.  The woman who was walking her was a friend of someone in that programme, and she was taking care of Jade until they could figure out what to do with her.  I told her a little bit about me, how I have these episodes that are kind of like seizures but not, and how I thought Jade might be able to give me some warning.  That’s when she explained about why Jade got kicked out.  I said I wouldn’t mind.”

“She sense spirits,” Wesley said.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured too.  I was proven right when I took her home and she met Phantom Dennis.  They get along wonderfully, by the way.  He likes to play fetch with her.  Anyway, the lady pulled some strings and next thing I know, she’s coming home with me.”  Jade threw her head up so that she could look at her new mistress upside-down.  Cordelia smiled indulgently at her.

“Well, that’s all very well, I suppose,” Wesley said, taking a step forward.  “But I’m not sure-”

He broke off as Jade sprang to her feet, staring at him and growling.  He pushed himself against the wall, choking off what was most certainly not a high-pitched shriek.

Cordelia caught hold of her collar.  “Jade, no.  That’s Wesley.  He’s more or less a good person.”  Wesley squeaked a protest.  Cordelia glared at him.  “You can’t be afraid of her.  Dogs sense fear, and you’re making her uneasy.”

“I’m making her uneasy?” Wesley muttered.  The dog slowly settled down, though she kept a watchful eye on Wesley.  “Be that as it may, what is Angel going to say when he finds out -”

“When I find out what?” Angel asked, strolling in through the front door.  It was a rare overcast day for Los Angeles, but Wesley was still surprised that his boss had been outside during daylight hours.  Usually he was too cautious of the fact that clouds could dissipate at any moment.  He was carrying two large grocery sacks.

Wesley pushed himself away from the wall and pointed an accusing finger at Jade.  “Cordelia brought a hell-hound into our offices, make her put it back where it belongs.”

Angel gave him a bemused look.  “That’s not a hell-hound, Wes.”  He rearranged the bags in his arms and pulled out a box of...dear Lord, dog biscuits.  “The guy at the pet store said this are good for her teeth.  One or two a day should do it.  And I got her a bunch of toys.”  He peered thoughtfully into the bags.  “I may have gotten her too many toys.”

Cordelia grabbed the bags out of his arms.  “No such thing.”

Wesley pouted at Angel, who shrugged.  “She’s got nowhere else to go.”

The baleful look on his face said it all.  Angel had heard the dog’s sob-story and of course he would open his heart to her.  So it was Cordelia, Phantom Dennis, and Angel against him, Wesley.  There was no way he was going to win this.

“Oh, very well,” Wesley said.  “But just so you know,” he added, addressing Jade directly, “if you bite me, I bite back.”

Jade didn’t notice.  Her attention was too fixated on the rubber dog toy Cordelia was unpackaging for her.  Wesley sighed and used her momentary distraction to slip into the back room, where he most certainly did not hide for the remainder of the day.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno, this might eventually spin into a series if people are interested. I have all kinds of headcanons involving the team and Jade.


End file.
